Looking back and looking forward

I still remember the feeling I had at the very beginning of this semester upon learning that I would have to build and post regularly to a blog.  And I can't say it was a good one.  But being made to leave one's comfort zone is always a good experience, and I was no exception.

At the start of the semester, I had had experience using the MLA format, but was certainly no fan of it.  But due to a semester of writing using it, last week I found myself dreaming that I wrote a facebook status... with in text citations and a works cited page.  This is just one of the ways that I've grown through blogging.
Another way would be that I'm simply more knowledgeable.  I've always had an interest in factoids, and this process of researching my blog themes has only added to my (hopefully) ever-growing mental reservoir of information.

I understand for some the idea of blogging for 16 weeks seems daunting, or even torturous, but looking back, it has been very rewarding.  This does not mean it's always been easy.  But sometimes the greatest things in life are those that are hardest to acquire.

It's a metaphor, cuz life is a road, you see?  Ah well, never mind...

I should like to continue with this blog, as seeing it end here (as I'm sure so many have) would be a shame.  Stylistically, I have been fairly satisfied with my posts so far, but in the future, I hope to see my style and format evolve as I reach farther and deeper into the world of communication.  Over time I may even begin to see a community develop to join me in my quest.  Who knows what the future will hold.
BONUS: Remember my post about Time Capsules? Well there was a recent time capsule opened in Oklahoma.  It was 100 years old, and you can read more about it here!

What are your Top 3?

Today, instead of writing in my usual style, I decided to shake things up a bit and use a different kind of format.  Over the semester I've been researching in a somewhat chronological order the different methods humans have used to communicate throughout history.  As I'm coming to the end of my less-than-comprehensive overview, I approach the modern era, with all its fancy technology that our ancestors never would have dreamed of.

Technology like the internet.

Interested to see how my peers interact with it on a daily basis, I conducted a brief survey of approximately 30 people from all around our little campus (with only 2 others refusing to participate), asking each one something along the lines of:
"Hello, my name is Inigo Mont..."
"Hello, I'm conducting a poll to find out which top 3 websites people use; would you like to participate?"

I recorded their answers, having a total of 23 different websites, and calculated some percentages.

I made this.  Pretty cool, huh?

Within the surveyed's top 3 most frequented websites,

• 56% listed Facebook,
• 50% listed Google,
• 36% listed YouTube,
• 30% listed Twitter,
• 20% listed nvcc.edu,

The results did not surprise me, but were still interesting, nonetheless.
It showed that the top websites were divided nicely into two functions.

Websites like Facebook, and Twitter are primarily used for their social aspects of sharing about oneself, or sharing in others' lives.

Google (not counting Google's secondary features, such as this very blogging platform), and nvcc.edu, on the other hand, are used to seek out information, and to learn.
(Yes, I understand that the nvcc.edu result is only specific to a select demographic.)

And as for YouTube, it is split into both camps, with many people passively using it to watch viral videos, tutorials, and the like, and a whole other social side too, with just as much, if not more sharing and community as any social media website.

What does it reveal about us as a culture, or even as a species, that we (or at least the NOVA students) value these websites over the wide variety of other kinds of websites that the internet has to offer?  I can only conjecture, but given these results, it suggests that two of the most important needs of a human, that have been driving forces throughout history, are acceptance by society, and understanding of the world.

Do you agree?  Disagree?  I would like to hear.
Tell me your personal top 3 most frequented websites (any), and how you would interpret the results of my poll.

Feeling rather alarmed...

Today, while I was driving home, I heard a sound, even while the windows of my car were closed.  I knew instantly what it was and how to respond, as did the other cars around me.  It was the siren of an ambulance.  We are trained to become alert to this, and other sounds like it, similar to the way we recognize and respond to beacons.  Just as visual cues can inform us of our surroundings, so too can auditory.  And for longer than anyone can remember, humans, and animals, have taken advantage of these many different kinds of alarm signals.

Modern usages of the word “alarm” tend to be associated with electronic devices, such as smoke detectors.  But the origin of the word, according to dictionary.com, comes from the French for “the call to arms” ("Alarm")

The word “alert” has a similar definition, originally meaning “to be on the lookout”.  The fundamental difference between the two is that the latter calls for vigilance, whereas the former calls for action. ("Alert")

It’s no wonder then why you may sometimes feel like murdering your alarm, as the word was clearly born of a violent past.  The alarm system has been employed by animals since time immemorial.  In mammals (and humans), it tends to be a vocal response to warn or direct others, but other species sometimes use non-vocal methods to create alarm sounds.

Borrowed from: in-bruges.co.uk

Over time though, humans developed more efficient ways to call others to arms than by voice alone.  Prior to electricity, the bell tower was a popular alarm tool.  The Belfry of Bruges, for example, dates back to before the 13^th century A.D., and was used to warn of fires and other dangers.  Bell towers have also traditionally been used to announce less dire events such as marriages, funerals, or simply the time. (The Belfry)

Civil alarms, like bell towers, have since been replaced by electronic counterparts.  Directed at a large population, like a city or a town, sirens were very common throughout America, especially during the Cold War era, due to fear of bombing.  They were used both as a general warning to citizens, and to warn specifically of an attack. (Sirens)

In modern times, we still use many different kinds of alarms.  From your phone, to your car, they are still vital ways of relaying information.  But how will they be used in the future?  I’m sure ringers of bells never would have imagined a technology like the electronic siren, so it’s reasonable to posit that we also have not reached the pinnacle of technology in this area.  One can imagine a future where humans have spread across the stars and neither sound, nor even light are fast enough means of communication.  In this future, when danger approaches, humanity must use a technology so advanced from now that goes beyond even our wildest imaginations.  

Works cited:

"Alarm." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 10 April 2013.

"Alert." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 10 April 2013

"The Belfry." in-bruges.co.uk. in-bruges.co.uk, n.d. Web. 10 April 2013

<http://www.in-bruges.co.uk/belfry-of-bruges/belfry-of-bruges.html>

"Sirens." Civildefensemuseum.com. Civil Defense Museum, n.d. Web. 10 April 2013

<http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/sirens.html>

Communicating without a Community.

As some of you may know, and as others may understand, I have had a difficult time finding other bloggers who share my themes. 

If you've read any of my posts up until now, you may realize that the purpose of my blog is to research and discuss the mediums by which humans communicate.  Although my blog is far from exhaustive, I've tried to pull many different, sometimes seemingly unrelated topics together, to unite them under one banner.  Unfortunately, the more I researched my own topics, the more I realized I might be one of the only people online to connect these different subjects into a whole, and then blog about them.  This being the case, I will not be choosing other specific bloggers in a community as my sources, but rather I will focus on what I have done to create a community of my own (or what I could do to expand what I have started on into a larger community.)  

I will also be able to share methods and processes of research I used in finding my information, and share my difficulties and successes in this area. 

This has been quite an experience, but it’s not over yet!

As we begin to wrap up our blogs (with only a couple of posts left) I’d like to share with you s picture I found.  Although I had a difficult time finding other blogs discussing my themes, it was surprisingly easy to find some info-graphs which fit my blog almost perfectly.  This one has been my laptop desktop for a few weeks now: 

Taken from: http://www.biztechmagazine.com

It's rather small, so you may want to click the provided link for a larger version.

(One more note.  If you notice the URL for the website I got the picture from, it's a business website.  I found that the vast majority of Google hits when searching keywords relating to my blog such as "Communication" or even phrases such as "How humans communicate" resulted in business related communication; A very different kind topic!)